ABSTRACT
Activism begins with awareness of an acute problem. Individuals prompted to action typically seek out complementary groups or organizations that can help them to organize, research, and promote solutions to the problem. An immense array of organizations—both special-interest and public-interest groups—are dedicated to specific issues, but it quickly becomes clear how competitive and even conflicting their framing of and solutions to these problems can be. Even after activists have aligned themselves in organizations that advocate for specific solutions and have successfully promoted their solution through legislative action, resistance to their solution can easily undo their work. In a polarized representative democracy, the tug-of-war between competing problems and proposed solutions can produce short-lived resolutions, particularly when a legislative win by one side has bypassed a more thorough, consensus-seeking process with members of the other side.
